THE OLDEST INN
SIR,--Sir Compton Mackenzie, in his most entertaining 'Sidelight' on Somerset, raises an interesting pointdvhen he mentions the claim of the George Inn,' Norton St. Philip, Somerset—' a most romantic hostelry '—to be the oldest licensed house in England.
The 'George,:' it is said, has served as an inn since 1379. There arc about twenty inns reputed to have been in existence before this date, among the best-known being the ' Old Fighting Cocks,' St. Albans (795), the ' Bell,' Fincdon (1042), the. ' Ostrich,' Colobrook (1106), the ' Old Trip to Jerusalem,' f 1189) and the ' Salutation,' Nottingham. the ' Angel,' Grantham (1213), the ' Mitre,' (1230) and the Golden Cross,' Oxford, the ' Angel,. Blyth, Nottinghamshire (1270), the George and Dragon,' Spcldhurst (1270) and the ' Maid's Head,' Norwich (1287).
With the possible exception of the ' Old Fighting Cocks,' which according to one authority may incorporate part of the old Abbey water-gate, I believe that- all of these old inns, including the George,' were originally built as hospices by the Church. But I doubt whether it would be possible tO establish the exact age of any of them.-- Yours faithfully,
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